New recipe, February 19, 2025

Tokyo Tea from A Couple Cooks. A variation on Long Island Iced Tea. Tasty, but a tad sweet. We would try it without simple syrup.

New recipe, February 18, 2025

Baked Cod from NYT Cooking. This is pleasant, with subtle flavors so as not to hide the fish. We give it a 3.

New recipe, February 17, 2025

French Lentil and Vegetable Soup from Food and Wine. This is brimming with good things, including the lentils, onion, leek, garlic, celery, carrot, tomato paste and thyme. It is pleasant, but seemed a little flat. It calls for a couple tbsp of red wine or red wine vinegar—we would use the vinegar next time to boost the acidity a bit. It might also benefit from from lemon juice, but we still felt it needed something else. We added a small amount of harissa, so as not to dominate the dish but give it a little spice, which worked well. We give the original recipe a 3. It moves up to a 4 with the harissa.

New recipe, February 16, 2025

Roasted Carrot Salad with Arugula and Pomegranate from NYT Cooking. I thought I had pomegranate molasses, but I was wrong, and the markets don't have pomegranates right now, so I used a Balsamic glaze instead of the pomegranate molasses. This is excellent with that, and we look forward to trying it as written. We give this a 4.

New recipe, February 15, 2025

Sheet Pan Coconut Curry with Squash and Tofu from NYT Cooking. The combination of Thai curry paste and coconut milk infuses the vegetables and tofu with delicious flavors. We liked this a lot—we give it a 4.

New recipes, Valentine’s Day, 2025

Our main course is Pollo a la Piña, and dessert is Chocolate Lava Cake for Two, both from NYT Cooking. The chicken makes great tacos, with mixed flavors of two kinds of chiles, orange juice, and the pineapple. Really tasty! And how can you go wrong with lava cake? It is rich chocolate, with just the right amount of sweetness. We give these both 5s!

New recipe, February 13, 2025

Zucchini Salad from NYT Cooking. We wanted something simple with leftovers, and this is quite good. The zucchini slices are just dressed in a simple vinaigrette, but the key is roasting the zucchini slices for 5-7 minutes in a 400 degree oven. The idea is to slightly soften them, which allows them to soak up the vinaigrette. That makes this recipe a 4!